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Poster:
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vapors |
Date:
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January 17, 2011 02:41:22pm |
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Forum:
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GratefulDead
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Subject:
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Re: Spring Tour 85 part 1 |
Nice post, look forward to more. (Ah, the twentieth anniversary shows and the summer tour that followed...)
Winter 1984 I was living in Baton Rouge and got a great deal on a 1966 split windshield VW bus, which I fixed up and took on tour. Picked up some riders in Hampton and another in Niagara Falls. We all became fast friends and were together for both the spring and fall east coast tours. I became a pretty good VW mechanic and enjoyed the hell out of life on the road with the boys.
In 1985 I drove my bus from south Florida to Hampton for spring tour, and by the time I hit Virginia it was acting and smelling funny. I nursed it to Massachusetts where the tranny finally gave out. Paid an awful amount to store it at a shop on the outskirts of Springfield until tour was over. Ironically, one of my buddies from the previous year had come back east in his own ’66 bus, and I was set with a ride for the rest of the tour. After the Spectrum shows I towed my disabled bus down to Maryland and stored it at my folks, hooked back up with my ride who had stayed east to visit his mom, and we headed west to my first California shows at the Frost.
I will never forget those Springfield shows. When I arrived there I was feeling a lot of despair – breaking down on the road and not knowing if you are going to make it to the next show is an awful experience. But everything worked out swell, as I hooked up with good friends and did the rest of the tour in style. It was an expensive one in the end, but I certainly have no regrets, even if it was 1985! I especially remember the heights I reached during the Help/Slip/Franklins the second night.
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Poster:
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lobster12 |
Date:
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January 17, 2011 03:41:01pm |
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Forum:
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GratefulDead
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Subject:
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Re: Spring Tour 85 part 1 |
The second night in Springfield was my second show ever. Little did we know at the time that the help Slip>Frank would be the last for 4 1/2 years. Also...if you are thinking of checking that gig out I can't say enough about the Sugaree. One of the best the band has played.
ooops....they did one more H>S>F in the fall before it went bye bye
This post was modified by lobster12 on 2011-01-17 23:41:01
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